Despite what I said before freshman guard forward recruit Marc-Antoine (Marco) Bourgault did not attend summer classes in Bozeman this summer,. He had some commitments in France. I have also done a little more research on Bourgault yesterday to see if I could dig up anymore info on him that I could not find when we signed him. this is what i found.

n May when his signing was announced, I could not dig up lot of information and practically no stat information on him. I decided today to give it another shot and see if the Google search engines were stirred up enough to provide some more information. Here is what I have found.

Last year Bourgault played for the Cholet basketball U-21 club, his first year playing for the U-21 team. U-21 stands for twenty one years old and under. For a 30 game season he averaged 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and two steals a game while shooting 54% from the field, 40% from beyond the three point line and 76% from the free throw line. As I understand it the French club teams used a three point line that was approximately the same distance as the current NCAA line and a foot and half beyond what US high school the currently use. Bourgault started 28 of the 30 game as a small forward but put in significant time at all three back court positions. The U-21 season ended in late April of 2009 so these stats are as current as any thing.

The previous year Bourgault played for the U-18 team and averaged, 20 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. His shooting percentages were a little below what they were this year.

Bourgault it is said turned a major corner half way through this past season and earned the praises of his club coaches for his mature play. As you would guess from his stats he is an out standing perimeter shooter who is able to get his shot off rather quickly. He is also a good scorer driving to the basket and posting up. The areas that I hear he needs to improve at are creating his own shot on the perimeter and his mid range game. My guess is that developing a solid mid range game would actually open up opportunities on the perimeter.

One final note is that Bourgault’ team mate Bawa Maniru, signed with Indiana this past spring.

It appears to me that Bourgault has a lot of skills that could make him an immediate impact in the Big Sky coming off the bench. two major concerns would be how will he adjust to the athleticism at the D-1 level, and how quickly can he pick up Huse's system and especially Huse's defence. Learning Huse's system, or rather not being able to learn his system, has been a stumbling block for a handful of recruits. Still though, if Danny Piepoli is still recoving from his knee surgery come November Bourgault's perimeter shooting could become an important weapon this winter.

I have some video on Bourgault here for those who want to view it, but this video is about 12 months old now.

Bourgualt was determined by the NCAA clearing house to be a 1/2 core credit deficient in October. Instead of sticking around and redshirting a year he left campus almost immediately upon hearing the ruling. He did not tell the coaches where he was going but, rumor was he was looking at attending a JC or a prep school where he would be eligible to to play immediately. I have not heard where he landed